Once again, the decision to designate Qatar as the seat of the 2022 World Cup has been embroiled in controversy.
The group that successfully postulated Qatar for the 2022 soccer World Cup venue organized a secret campaign to sabotage the proposals of other competing countries, according to a report by the British newspaper the Sunday Times.According to what the Sunday newspaper publishes, that alleged campaign would have violated FIFA's rules of application.
Although the applicant Committee of Qatar was already exempted from corruption after a two-year investigation commissioned by FIFA, the agency could be forced to launch a new search if the new information is reliable, says BBC sports editor Dan Roan.
Qatar could even be spectacularly stripped of the tournament organization, says Roan
The Sunday Times claims to have seen leaked documents showing how the Qatari committee hired a U.S. public relations firm and CIA Exagents to discredit their opponents, particularly the U.S. and Australia.
The purported purpose was to generate negative propaganda to give the impression that a World Cup would not be supported internally. The organizers of the tournament in Qatar deny the accusations.
Qatar surpassed the rival proposals of the United States, Australia, South Korea and Japan to earn the right to host the 2022 World Cup.
FIFA rules stipulate that applicants to the grand tournament should not issue "written or oral statements of any kind, whether adverse or otherwise, on the nominations or candidacies of any other affiliated association ".
Some aspects of the alleged campaign of disrepute:
A respected scholar received $9, 000 to write a negative report on the enormous economic cost of the organization of a World Cup in the U.S., which was distributed to news media around the world.Journalists, bloggers and high profile figures were recruited in each country to highlight the negative aspects of their respective postulations.
A group of physical education teachers in the U.S. was recruited to lobby their representatives in Congress to oppose the World Cup on the basis that money would be better spent on school sports.
They organized community protests during rugby matches in Australia, against the country's candidacy.
They collected intelligence reports from individuals involved in rival nominations.
The papers seen by the Sunday Times — which the newspaper claims were filtered by a snitch who worked with the 2022 Committee — were apparently unavailable during the research that led FIFA.
It is alleged that the Qatar committee used the new York office of communications company Brown Lloyd Jones — now known as BLJ Worldwide — with a team of intelligence exagents to develop a campaign aimed at undermining one of the key criteria in the FIFA nomination process: that each applicant has strong support of his/her citizenship.
"thoroughly investigated "
In a statement, the Supreme Committee of organization and legacy of Qatar 2022 said that it "rejects each and all the accusations presented by the Sunday Times "."We have been thoroughly investigated and have been open with all the information related to our application, including with the official investigation led by U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia ," he said.
"We have adhered strictly to all FIFA rules and regulations for the 2018/2022 World Cup nomination process."
For its part, a FIFA communiqué said that "a thorough investigation was conducted by Michael Garcia and his findings are available in the report ", referring to the research completed after two years.
FIFA's investigation exempts Qatar from corruption over world 2022
BLJ Worldwide did not respond to requests from the Sunday Times for comments.
The right to organize the tournament was awarded to Qatar on December 2010. Russia received the right to the 2018 World Cup at the same time, beatinging three other applicants, including England.
As of that date, Qatar's decision to host the 2022 World Cup has been embroiled in controversy.
Another investigation?
Since the surprising victory in the competition to organise the event eight years ago, the country has faced questions about how it had achieved it, its realization during the winter months, and the human cost of building the required infrastructure.
On the one hand, we still do not know the explanations of those mentioned in the documents obtained by the Sunday Times, says BBC sports editor Dan Roan.
The allegations relate to events that occurred several years ago and some would point out that the application of Qatar has not been the only suspect of having used private intelligence and covert tactics.
In fact, the candidacy of England 2018 has been signaled to have spied on its rivals. Crucially, Qatar was exonerated of corruption by the two-year FIFA research conducted by U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia.
But surely there will be speculation that if this proves to be a violation of the rules, with direct ties to the nominating committee, and that Garcia was not aware of this new information, then Qatar could be seen spectacularly stripped of the event.
But Roan indicates that with the tournament just four years to go and tens of billions already invested in the preparations, that scenario is unlikely. FIFA tended to worry about being sued if it took that action.
But that institution's new directive has pledged to regain public confidence after years of scandals, so, perhaps, it will feel that it has no choice but to launch a new investigation.
Qatar is engaged in a diplomatic dispute with some of its neighbors, which probably explains when this information is filtered.
With the well-known inclination of FIFA President Gianni Infantino for having a 2022 World Cup with 48 teams, this could add new pressures on Qatar to agree to share the organization of the tournament with other countries in the region.
But, just two weeks after FIFA praised the World Cup organized by Russia, it has not been long before the directives of that governing world football institution — and the next host of its highest tournament — face even more scrutiny.
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